"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is a comedy/detective drama that is so confusing and convoluted that the audience is left guessing from the beginning of the film until the end. In fact, one could bet that most of the audience left the cinema still not sure exactly what happened.
Directed by Shane Black, the movie tells the tale of an electronics thief turned hopeful actor Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.). Harry flies to Los Angeles to take detective lessons from a gay detective, Gay Perry (Val Kilmer) in order to prepare for a part.
Harry also plays narrator, besides the central character, and ends up getting embroiled in an actual murder mystery. Narrator Harry interrupts the action to make frequent side notes to the audience about his life, the plot and the movie in general. The idea is that Harry is making the movie as it goes along, adding bits and pieces and rewinding when necessary.
"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" begins by showing a young Harry as a magician. He is at a fair sawing a young girl in half as she proclaims that she is going to be an actress. Twenty years later, who should Harry meet at a Los Angeles party but Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), the very same girl.
The movie plot doesn't waste the actors, it involves Harmony, her sister, a perverted father, a rich LA businessman, his daughter, his fake daughter, a gay detective, some thugs, a mental institute and several murders.
Needless to say, it would be too difficult to even attempt to explain the plot further. Basically, Harry tries to solve the murder mystery in order to impress Harmony while in the process he manages to get his finger cut off twice and swallowed by a dog.
The characters each have a distinct identity, and much of the comedy in the movie plays off their personalities clashing and meshing in a fluid, perfectly timed way. Harry and Gay Perry have an interesting and eventually seamless relationship which they are able to trade one-liners back and forth for what seems like hours on end.
Listening to their banter was enjoyable and entertaining, but their personalities were so extreme and individual that some monologues became grating and annoying. It would be easy to see why someone would feel like shouting at the characters, "Shut up already! We get it!"
"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" consisted of a plethora of "gay" jokes that got old really fast. It also played off of stereotypes of different parts of the country and the people who inhabit them. The problem with "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" is that it's so transparent about its comedy; it's almost as if the screenwriter didn't think the audience would be capable of intelligent thought.
That aside, the movie wasn't bad. Your life won't be enhanced in any way by seeing it, but it was a decent way to spend a few hours and to forget about reality.
Grade: C